The most unusual -- and probably most beloved -- crocodilians, Gharials have recently been all over the news, from conservation efforts to an accidental capture.

From MyRepublica.com an update on the release attempts on a group:

Khadka revealed 146 gharials raised at the breeding center in Chitwan National Park were released in Narayani and Rapti rivers alone. But a recent count found just 25 of them in these rivers. “The numbers have declined in other rivers as well,” Khadka said releasing 10 six-year-olds, including six female, in Rapti in Chitwan Wednesday.

“It takes a lot of effort and money to raise gharials. But they are long dead when we look for them in rivers,´ he stated. Experts, however, maintain that the numbers are down also because the chances of gharials raised in controlled conditions surviving in big rivers are low.

“They are raised with utmost care in parks and their chance of surviving in the natural environment is always low,” claimed Chief Conservation Officer of Chitwan National Park Narendra Man Babu Pradhan.

From The Times of India, news of a panel on conservation efforts:

The national tri-state Chambal sanctuary management coordination committee has been formed to look into the conservation issues. The first meeting of the committee has took some serious decisions like developing a tri-state management plan for gharial in consultation with experts, local communities, state forest department and others.

Then there is a story of mistaken identification in The Daily Star:

According to a press release by the conservator of forests, Wildlife and Nature Conservation Circle, fishermen captured the 2.3 feet long reptile at Koya under Kumarkhali upazila.

Mistaking the one and a half-year-old gharial for a young crocodile, they sold it to another fisherman for Tk 2,000 which was rescued by police and forest department staff.

Hossain Mohammad Nishat, divisional forest officer of Social Forestation Department informed Dr Tapan Kumar Dey, conservator of forests at the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Circle who brought the injured gharial to Crocodile Breeding Centre at Bhawal National Garden. After providing first aid the reptile was released in a pond.

Last, a blog post from one of my favorite bloggers, Janaki Lenin over at The Hindu, recounting a harrowing time at Madras Croc Bank:

By noon the next day, the wind had died down, but the Croc Bank was strewn with piles of debris. On the beach, enormous trunks of trees from far off shores lay washed up like beached walruses. The Kovalam bridge was under a rushing torrent of water, and the road to Kelambakkam had disappeared. Apart from the thin strip of road, the predecessor of the East Coast Road, a sheet of water covered everything. The Croc Bank was marooned for three days. Had high tide coincided with the cyclone hitting the coast, Madras would have been devastated.

The crocs seemed bewildered by the sound and light show that had changed the profile of their enclosures. But, the worst was over and now it was just a matter of cleaning up. The following night, after a long day of back-breaking work, a deeply-asleep Rom was woken up by the incessant barking of Balu, the watch dog.

A large male gharial had escaped and was pushing its way through the casuarina grove to the sea. Rom picked up a fallen branch and fenced with the 13 foot crocodile to keep it at bay.

You can catch the rest of the tale by clicking here.